1So when news was brought that the squadron of the Treviri and the Tungri had been routed by Otho's fleet and that Narbonese Gaul was being encircled, out of concern to protect the allies and at the same time by a soldier's cunning to break up cohorts that were unruly and, if together, too strong, he orders part of the Batavians to go to their aid. 1When this was heard and spread about, the allies grieved and the legions murmured. 1They were being robbed, they said, of the help of the bravest men; 1those veterans, victors in so many wars, were being led away, as it were from the very battle line, now that the enemy was in sight.
1If a province was more important than Rome and the safety of the empire, let them all follow there; 1but if the mainstay of victory turned on Italy, those men should not be torn away, like the strongest limbs from a body.